A user interface for an electronic trading exchange is provided which
allows a remote trader to view in real time bid orders, offer orders, and
trades for an item, and optionally one or more sources of contextual
data. Individual traders place orders on remote client terminals, and
this information is routed to a transaction server. The transaction
server receives order information from the remote terminals, matches a
bid for an item to an offer for an item responsive to the bid
corresponding with the offer, and communicates outstanding bid and offer
information, and additional information (such as trades and contextual
data) back to the client terminals. Each client terminal displays all of
the outstanding bids and offers for an item, allowing the trader to view
trends in orders for an item. A priority view is provided in which orders
are displayed as tokens at locations corresponding to the values of the
orders. The size of the tokens reflects the quantity of the orders. An
alternate view positions order icons at a location which reflects the
value and quantity of the order. Additionally, contextual data for the
item is also displayed to allow the trader to consider as much
information as possible while making transaction decisions. A pit panel
view is also provided in which traders connected to the pit are
represented by icons, and are displayed corresponding to an activity
level of the trader.